Quick answer
Yes, we work across Upper Darby, from Drexel Hill to the blocks along Cobbs Creek. Two kinds of call stand out: storm falls, like the August 2023 wind that put large trees on Drexel Hill homes and garages, and running bamboo, which the township has moved to restrict. Lots are close together, so almost every removal here is rigged down in pieces.
August 2023 in Drexel Hill
In the straight-line wind storm of August 7, 2023, large trees fell onto homes and garages in Drexel Hill, including one on Turner Avenue and one that crushed an enclosed porch at Mason and Marvine. The twin weeping willows at Dermond Field were lost as well.
At 85,681 residents on 7.83 square miles, the township has little open ground for a tree to land on. A trunk resting on a porch or garage roof is still loaded, so we lift or lower it off in sections instead of cutting it where it lies. If it came over from a neighbor's yard, take photos before anything moves. Our fallen tree removal page explains the order we work in.
What Upper Darby calls are usually about
Density shapes nearly everything here: where a tree lands, how the wood gets out, and whose yard the bamboo came from.
- Fallen Tree RemovalTrees down on porches, garages and cars, like the Drexel Hill falls of August 2023.
- Running Bamboo RemovalRunning bamboo crossing lot lines, now restricted by the township.
- Tight-Access Backyard Tree RemovalClose-set yards at over 10,000 residents per square mile, where every log leaves by hand.
- Leaning Tree RemovalTrees on creek-edge lots near Cobbs Creek that start to lean after soaked ground shifts.
- Young Tree Structural PruningNewly planted street and yard trees, shaped early so they grow up strong.
Cobbs Creek and the creek-edge yards
Cobbs Creek runs along the township's border and joins Darby Creek, and the Cobbs Creek parkland borders the Highland Park neighborhood. Like Ridley, Crum and Chester creeks farther west, it drains south through Delaware County to the Delaware.
Yards that back onto a creek valley tend to have trees reaching out toward the open light, and banks that soften after heavy rain. Those trees are worth a look before storm season rather than after a storm, and a leaning tree near the house moves to the top of the list.
Bamboo rules and new street-tree blocks
Upper Darby is one of the Philadelphia suburbs, along with Radnor and Haverford, that has adopted rules on running bamboo. Running bamboo spreads by underground rhizomes, so cutting the canes does nothing; the rhizome mat has to be dug out or cut off at the line with a barrier. Our running bamboo removal page explains both routes.
The township is planting, too. For Earth Day 2022, Habitat for Humanity and the Tree Tenders of Upper Darby planted about 80 street trees across its seven districts, aiming for one tree-lined block in each. Young trees like those need structural pruning in their first years. The wider Delaware County page covers ash and storm history across the county.
Upper Darby tree questions
Upper Darby has adopted running bamboo rules, so start by raising it with the neighbor and the township. On your side, we can cut the rhizomes along the line and set a root barrier.
Keep people off the porch and out of the rooms beside it, call 911 if anyone is hurt or a wire is down, take photos, then call us any hour to get the weight off safely.
Soft, saturated banks and trees leaning toward open ground both raise the odds. If your yard backs onto Cobbs Creek, have the big trees near the house checked before storm season.
Often, yes. We climb and use rope rigging to lower it in small sections. A crane comes in when there is no safe way to lower the pieces, and it needs room at the curb.
Near Upper Darby
Tree down or bamboo spreading in Upper Darby?
Call us any hour. Tell us what happened and where, and we will explain how we clear it.